For a long time, I spent most of my practice time working on technique oriented skills such as scales, etudes and sight reading. Practicing these kinds of skills leaves out many other important components of learning music. As music educators, we often encourage this same practice routine when teaching students. Others often fall into the trap of devoting most of their time and energy on learning to play fast. I’m going to share something that can be easily added as part of any daily practice routine that will help one feel a real sense of accomplishment and enjoyment from every practice session, while improving upon essential musical skills.
In this post, I’ll explain the process for learning to play melodies by ear. Learning melodies and songs by ear helps improve in all fundamental areas of music. Including this skill as part of a practice routine makes practicing enjoyable, concrete and practical. The process associated with learning melodies by ear allows the musician to practice all the music skills that matter most such as technique, sound, phrasing, timing, rhythmic accuracy and musicality.
Encourage your students to include learning melodies by ear into their practice routines. Help them pick a song appropriate for their playing level. Recommend starting with a basic melody (Merrily We Roll Along, Baby Sharks, We Will Rock You, When The Saints Go Marching In or the Super Mario Brothers Theme). Later, invite them to try a popular melody such as Old Town Road by Lil Nas X.
Once a melody is selected based upon the students interests, strengths and areas of improvement. Have them choose the recording they will use to learn the melody. Have the student listen to the recording to the point the melody is memorized. Show them how to work out the melody note for note on their instrument by singing and playing one phrase at a time. Teach them the scale associated with the song. Many popular melodies begin on the 1st, 3rd, or 5th note of a scale.
